Tag: bilingual

A recent voter poll, commissioned by UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza) and Helios Education Foundation, indicates that the majority of Arizonans support dual-language education for children, and nearly 60% of respondents approve of a measure that would allow undocumented students to receive in-state tuition rates.Education is the hot topic in Arizona,...

Bilingual children adapt to the needs of their communication partners better than monolingual children, according to a study published in Child Development, because children growing up bilingually have to manage challenging communication situations more often and deal with the differing communication styles of their parents. Developmental psychologists at the University of Zurich...

According to new research published in Developmental Science and carried out at Canada’s York University, babies who hear two languages at home develop advantages in attention.In the study, infants who were exposed to more than one language showed better attentional control than infants who were exposed to only one language. This means that exposure to bilingual environments should...

Democratic Assemblyman Tony Thurmond managed to come from behind to emerge as California’s new superintendent of public instruction, beating out Marshall Tuck, a fellow Democrat and former Los Angeles executive of charter schools and educational nonprofits.Thurmond sponsored California Assembly Bill 2514 which was passed in September, allocating $300,000 in grant funding to eligible schools, county offices of education and...

Google Trends, which tracks the use of search terms, tweeted this morning that “Dónde Votar” was the top trending search on Google, spiking by more than 3,000%. Within an hour of the tweet, Priorities USA Action, a Democrat super PAC, translated its voter mobilization ads online to Spanish, specifically for voters in Arizona and Florida.This election cycle, Priorities USA Action...

Research into the neurological activity required to switch between languages is providing new insights into the nature of bilingualism.“A remarkable feature of multilingual individuals is their ability to quickly and accurately switch back and forth between their different languages,” explains Esti Blanco-Elorrieta, a New York University doctoral candidate and the lead author of the study, which appears in the...

Lisa A. Frumkes explains why bilingualism is more relevant than ever.In today’s increasingly global and connected world, I interact every day with colleagues from different cultures who speak a wide array of languages. Achieving bilingualism and proficiency in a second language—be it English or another world language—is important for everyone, but especially for 21st-century students.For today’s K–12 students, knowledge...

The state of Louisiana is now a member of the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF). Its application as an observer member was accepted on October 11 by the organization’s member states at their biannual summit in Armenia, along with Ireland, Gambia, and Malta.The 54 full members of the OIF unanimously approved Louisiana’s application at the 17th summit of La...

Laura Hamman, Emeline Beck, and Aubrey Donaldson have developed a framework for designing and integrating more flexible language pedagogies into the bilingual classroom  One day at recess, a distraught five-year-old approached me and proclaimed angrily, “Fulanito me tagó.” Confused, I attempted to understand her meaning: “¿Te tocó?” (“He touched you?”) She shook her head. “¿Te atacó?” (“He attacked you?”). No...

As the midterm elections approach, civic engagement groups Faith in Florida, Hispanic Federation, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, UnidosUS, and Vamos4PR, and individual voter Marta Rivera have filed suit against Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner and the Supervisors of Elections of 32 Florida counties who, they claim, are in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s requirement...